Grendene Global Brands Headquarters occupies a 3,000-square-foot ground-floor space in the Wynwood Arts District, the creative and commercial heart of Miami. Designed and delivered by Nar Design Studio as a brand-integrated corporate interior, the project serves as the U.S. headquarters for Grendene S.A. — a publicly traded Brazilian company and one of the world’s largest footwear manufacturers, with a portfolio that includes Melissa, Ipanema, Rider, and Zaxy. The design challenge was clear: create a workspace that functions as both an operational office for the North American team and a physical extension of the brand’s identity, capable of hosting international buyers, press, and internal teams in an environment that communicates Grendene’s cultural origins and global ambition.
Nar Design Studio managed the project as a complete commercial interior, encompassing space planning, brand integration, custom display design, FF&E procurement, lighting design, acoustic planning, and construction coordination. The scope reflects the studio’s approach to commercial interior design services in Miami and South Florida: every element — from the custom reception displays to the sub-brand huddle rooms — was conceived, specified, and installed under a single design vision led by architects and interior designers Nicholas Gennari and Roberto Racy.
The existing space presented a character typical of Wynwood’s industrial fabric: exposed concrete floors, raw brick walls, open ceilings with visible ductwork. Rather than concealing this rawness, the design amplifies it — treating the industrial bones as a counterpoint to the tropical materiality and brand color that define the interior. The result is a deliberate tension between the neighborhood’s warehouse heritage and Grendene’s warm, fashion-driven identity, grounding the office interior design in its specific Wynwood context rather than producing a generic corporate fit-out.
Upon entry, visitors are received in a branded showcase area where the latest footwear collections from Melissa, Ipanema, Rider, and Zaxy are displayed behind a glass-partitioned U-shaped installation. A custom built-in wood cabinet serves as a transition between the public showcase and the working office, providing additional display shelving for sub-brand collections. The color palette throughout centers on Grendene’s signature orange, balanced against light ash wood, warm grey tones, and the natural texture of the existing brick and concrete. This deliberate calibration — vibrant brand color against honest industrial material — gives the headquarters a character that is energetic without being chaotic, branded without being decorative.
The open office is organized into three programmatic zones, each positioned to maximize natural light along the building’s full window line — a decision rooted in the studio’s research into wellness-driven workplace design and the measurable impact of daylight access on productivity and mental well-being. A central collaborative table anchors group work and brainstorming. Flanking it, non-assigned desks accommodate rotating employees and visiting team members from Grendene’s international offices. Dedicated workstations for the permanent Miami staff occupy the third zone. Two lounge areas with upholstered seating and two enclosed phone booths are set near the perimeter, providing spaces for informal conversation, focused calls, and decompression without leaving the floor plate.
Three enclosed huddle rooms serve as private meeting spaces, each dedicated to one of Grendene’s sub-brands: Ipanema, Rider, and Zaxy. Each room features a custom wall mural and color scheme drawn from its brand identity, creating distinct visual environments within a unified architectural language. These rooms function as creative territories within the larger headquarters — spaces where sub-brand teams or visiting buyers can meet in an environment that immediately communicates the specific brand they are discussing.
Throughout the office, the brand narrative is embedded in architectural detail rather than applied as surface graphics. The most distinctive element is a half-wall partition designed as an abstraction of the mesh pattern from Melissa’s Aranha sandal — the brand’s most iconic and historically significant product. This detail transforms a functional divider into a piece of brand storytelling that rewards recognition without demanding explanation.
Moss walls and suspended planters introduce biophilic texture throughout the workspace, softening the industrial edge of the exposed ceiling and concrete while reinforcing the tropical South American identity at the core of Grendene’s brand. These elements also serve a wellness function: biophilic interventions in commercial interiors have been shown to reduce stress and support sustained focus — principles the studio has explored extensively, including in work presented during the Venice Architecture Biennale on the role of biophilic design and the WELL Building Standard in shaping healthier built environments.
Acoustic clouds are positioned to demarcate zones and manage sound within the open plan, addressing the acoustic challenges inherent in an exposed-ceiling industrial space. Together with the biophilic elements and daylight-forward layout, these acoustic interventions contribute to a workspace that prioritizes occupant comfort alongside brand expression. Integrated storage cabinetry runs along secondary walls, maintaining a clean floor plate and ensuring the workspace remains organized despite the density of program within 3,000 square feet.
Grendene Global Brands Headquarters demonstrates how office interior design in Wynwood can serve a dual purpose: operational workspace and brand environment. The project reflects the studio’s conviction that corporate interiors for fashion and lifestyle brands must go beyond furniture and finishes to embed identity into spatial logic, material selection, and architectural detail. While the Grendene project brings this philosophy to a commercial context, the studio’s residential work — including luxury penthouse interior design at Brickell Flatiron — applies the same level of programmatic precision and material intelligence to private homes across South Florida.
Learn more about Nar Design Studio, the Miami-based architecture and interior design firm founded by Nicholas Gennari and Roberto Racy.
Project Details
Location: Wynwood Arts District / Miami, Florida
Market: Corporate / Global Brand Headquarters
Project Type: Commercial Interior Design + Brand Integration
Area: 3,000 ft2 / 279 m2
Completion: 2023
Scope: Space Planning, Brand Integration, Custom Display Design, FF&E Procurement, Lighting Design, Acoustic Planning, Construction Coordination, Styling, Final Installation
Designers: Nicholas Gennari and Roberto Racy
Interior Design Firm: Nar Design Studio
Photography: Gabriel Volpi
Design Approach: Brand-integrated tropical materiality, industrial heritage, biophilic wellness, sub-brand spatial identity
Grendene Global Brands Headquarters reflects a design philosophy that Nar Design Studio has developed across both residential and commercial work — and presented internationally during the Venice Architecture Biennale. The studio’s Biennale exhibition explored how biophilic design principles and wellness-driven spatial strategies can transform the quality of everyday environments, drawing on the WELL Building Standard’s holistic approach to air quality, lighting, acoustic comfort, and mental health. At Grendene, these principles operate within a commercial context: moss walls and suspended planters introduce biophilic texture into an industrial workspace, acoustic clouds address the sound challenges of an open-ceiling floor plate, and natural light is preserved along the full window line for every workstation zone. The result is a headquarters where brand identity and occupant well-being are treated as inseparable — where the tropical materiality that communicates Grendene’s cultural origins simultaneously creates the kind of grounding, nature-connected environment that the studio’s research has shown to reduce stress and support sustained creative work.
Grendene Global Brands Headquarters has been recognized by international design and commercial interiors publications for its brand-integrated approach to office interior design in Wynwood, Miami, and its fusion of tropical materiality with industrial heritage.
Work Design Magazine – Inside Grendene’s Fashion-Forward Miami HQ
Office Snapshots – Grendene Global Headquarters – Miami
Retail Design Blog – Grendene Global Headquarters by Nar Design Studio
Amazing Architecture – Nar Design Studio Designs Grendene Global Headquarters in Wynwood, Miami
Revista Habitare – Nar Design Studio assina a sede global da Grendene em Miami
Mega Moveleiros – Nar Design Studio assina a sede global da Grendene em Wynwood, Miami
Sztuka Wnętrza – Tropical Pulse – Such Offices Are Being Built in Miami
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